fatal

From Middle French fatal, from Latin fātālis (“fatal”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈfeɪtəl/
  • (General American) IPA^(key): [ˈfeɪ.ɾɫ̩]

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪtəl

fatal (not comparable)

1. Proceeding from, or appointed by, fate or destiny.
   • 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 1, in Death on the Centre Court:

     She mixed furniture with the same fatal profligacy as she mixed drinks, and this outrageous contact between things which were intended by Nature to be kept poles apart gave her an inexpressible thrill.

2. Foreboding death or great disaster.
   • 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], OCLC 16832619:

     Such a scandal as the prosecution of a brother for forgery—with a verdict of guilty—is a most truly horrible, deplorable, fatal thing. It takes the respectability out of a family perhaps at a critical moment, when the family is just assuming the robes of respectability: […] it is a black spot which all the soaps ever advertised could never wash off.

3. Causing death or destruction.

   a fatal wound; a fatal disease; that fatal day; a fatal mistake

   • 2013 July-August, Philip J. Bushnell, “Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance”, in American Scientist:

     Surprisingly, this analysis revealed that acute exposure to solvent vapors at concentrations below those associated with long-term effects appears to increase the risk of a fatal automobile accident. Furthermore, this increase in risk is comparable to the risk of death from leukemia after long-term exposure to benzene, another solvent, which has the well-known property of causing this type of cancer.

4. (computing) Causing a sudden end to the running of a program.

   a fatal error; a fatal exception

• (proceeding from fate): inevitable, necessary
• (foreboding death): terminal
• (causing death): calamitous, deadly, destructive, mortal

fatal (plural fatals)

1. A fatality; an event that leads to death.
   • 1999, Flying Magazine (volume 126, number 4, April 1999, page 15)

     The best accident rate in general aviation is in corporate/executive flying at 0.17 per 100000 hours for fatals and .50 for total accidents.

2. (computing) A fatal error; a failure that causes a program to terminate.

• A flat, A-flat, a flat, a-flat, aflat

From Latin fātālis (“fatal”).

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /fəˈtal/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /faˈtal/

fatal (masculine and feminine plural fatals)

1. fatal

• fatalisme
• fatalista
• fatalment

• fatalitat

• “fatal” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

From Latin fātālis (“fatal”).

• IPA^(key): /fataːl/, [faˈtˢæːˀl]

fatal

1. fatal

• skæbnesvanger

• fatalisme

Borrowed from Latin fātālis.

• IPA^(key): /fa.tal/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -al

fatal (feminine singular fatale, masculine plural fatals, feminine plural fatales)

1. fatal (due to fate)
2. fatal (causing death)

• fatalement
• fatalité
• fataliste

• “fatal” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Borrowed from Latin fātālis.

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːl

fatal (comparative fataler, superlative am fatalsten)

1. fatal

First known attestation 1380[1], borrowed from Latin fātālis

fatal m (feminine singular fatale, masculine plural fatals, feminine plural fatales)

1. fatal (due to fate)

From Latin fatalis

fatal (neuter singular fatalt, definite singular and plural fatale)

1. fatal

• “fatal” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Latin fatalis

fatal (neuter singular fatalt, definite singular and plural fatale)

1. fatal

• “fatal” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

From Latin fātālis (“fatal”).

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /fɐ.ˈtaɫ/
• Hyphenation: fa‧tal

fatal m or f (plural fatais, comparable)

1. fatal
2. terrible, very bad

From Latin fātālis (“fatal”).

fatal (plural fatales)

1. fatal
2. terrible, very bad

fatal

1. very badly, terribly

   Me siento fatal. I feel terribly bad.

   Manejas fatal. You drive awfully.